"Young Hearts Run Free" is a disco song written by David Crawford and originally recorded by American soul singer Candi Staton in 1976.

[7] "Young Hearts Run Free" was one of only two songs by Staton to reach the top 10 on the UK Singles Chart, it peaked at number two behind The Real Thing's "You to Me Are Everything".

"[9] Billboard wrote, "A classic country ballad in a disco leisure suit, as Candi Staton extols the virtues of romantic independence over a soul-stirring horn groove, while simultaneously lamenting that she didn’t practice what she’s preaching in her own relationship.

"[2] The Guardian said the song "sounds blissful – as if specifically designed to waft out of radios during the sweltering summer of 1976 – but the lyrics are a rueful, downcast cautionary tale of 'lost and lonely' marital discord and years 'filled with tears'.

"Young Hearts Run Free" was covered by American house music singer Kym Mazelle and released in 1996 as the second single for the triple-platinum selling soundtrack of Romeo + Juliet by Capitol Records.

[24] A reviewer from Music Week gave it three out of five, noting that here, Nellee Hooper is at the controls for Mazelle's "pumped up version of the soul classic", lifted from the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack.

The video also features actor Harold Perrineau, who played Mercutio in the film, wearing a white outfit and a platinum blonde afro wig, miming to Mazelle's voice.